How do I voice my outrage?
I’ll be honest. This wasn’t the article I was supposed to write. Maybe I’m breaking some kind of journalistic fourth wall by telling you this, but I need the readers of this paper to know my intentions. I need you to understand that I’m writing this article out of a desperate desire to be heard. I need you to understand my urgency, my fear and my outrage.
When a Muslim translator that wants to come to the US for a better life after helping American soldiers in Iraq for 10 years is detained at an airport because our president campaigned on xenophobic and bigoted rhetoric and couldn’t recognize American heroism if it was spat in his face, how do I voice my outrage?
When the day after the prime minister of Canada says that Muslims will always be welcome in his country, a man walks into a Mosque in Quebec City and kills six innocent people, how do I voice my outrage?
When the woman asking to lead the Department of Education has no experience in teaching and simply won her position by donating millions to the Republican Party so she could push her religious agenda into the public school system, how do I voice my outrage?
When the man that sits in the highest position of power says that women should be punished for the decisions they make for their own bodies and endlessly insults and degrades them, how do I voice my outrage?
When the people in charge of informing the public of the truth refuse to acknowledge the existence of facts and offer “alternative facts” instead, how do I voice my outrage?
And yet, when thousands gather at airports, parks, and streets begging for some inkling of humanity in their government, when governors actively defy the President’s orders out of a principled obligation to their citizens, and when career democrats stand on the streets of New York, with tears in their eyes, and promise to fight the President’s immigration ban at all costs, how do voice my pride?
I am the daughter of immigrant parents who came to this country seeking the best of America. But as a young woman, I know that it is becoming increasingly difficult to not become disillusioned by a society that grows more and more hostile. We have become so caught up in the worst but perhaps it is more important that we see the shining light that is coming through in the darkness. As we see the worst of America, amidst the chaos, I see unity, leadership, community, and a true love for our democracy.